Poured on-tap in downtown San Diego at the Columbia Street brewpub. The beer was poured into a pint glass with a cloudy yellow color and no head. The beer is almost completely opaque, being the epitome of unfiltered. The beer is banana and sweet on the nose. The flavors lean more towards nut, with hints of banana. There are also vanilla undertones, with a clove emphasis on the finish. Sharp and bitter notes to the aftertaste, and the complexity and transition of flavors at the end of the beer affect the drinkability. Not a smooth, easy beer like most Hefs.

so it says on the Karl Strauss website. I can buy that it is more in the hefeweizen style as opposed to an American-style wheat ale. The name Wheat Hefeweizen is pretty annoying though. And what is SoCal style?

This beer pours a nice hazy full yellow. Minimal head due to sample size. This beer actually has a decently apparent, sweet aroma. I get a decent amount of banana and spiciness with no hop bitterness. Nice wheaty taste and feel. Refreshing and light. Good for newbies. Somewhere in the middle range for wheats that I've tasted.

Pours a murky yellow with a 1/2 inch foamy bone colored head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of wheat, grain, spice, banana, and slight bubblegum. There is a slight vegetal aroma that I am picking up on as well. Taste is much the same with a grain and spice aftertaste. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer and definitely drinkable for what it is, but I am not too sure I would go after this one again.

Mildly hazy golden orange and yellow with a minimal white head that leaves spots of lacing down the glass.

A mild aroma consisting of some banana and clove, a touch of vanilla, and lots of wheat bread.

The taste follows the aroma. This is a bready hefeweizen, and while not at all bad, again there's simply not a lot here. There's a faint banana and clove character, but it's all very mild and far-away.

Medium to thick bodied with low carbonation. Strange per the style.

An above average hefeweizen, but there will usually always be better options than this. It needed a thinner body and a lot more carbonation.

On tap at the downtown Karl Strauss location. Hazy, cloudy yellow like a witbier usually does. Yeasty aroma with some wheat. Flavor was all banana, overpowering. No bubblegum unless someone makes banana flavored bubblegum. It wasn't gross but I wouldn't buy it.